100 million views on YouTube in less than a month is a staggering milestone for anything, let alone an indie animation pilot from a relatively small group of creators. But that’s precisely what The Amazing Digital Circus achieved during its first few weeks on the platform. Its pilot has taken over the internet in a way that goes beyond enthusiast circles, slipping into fanart, memes, and a deeper expansion of its characters than a single episode could ever conjure.
The animated series is likely to enter full production now, following the hugely successful pilot and amassing a large audience, not to mention Glitch Productions is producing merch and continuing to field interest on its social media. It’s a channel that already has a few original productions and characters, with The Amazing Digital Circus acting as another ace up its sleeve. It’s funny, dark, imaginative, and full of potential. I cannot wait for the full season.
The Amazing Digital Circus has broken viewership records previously set by Hazbin Hotel.
Taking inspiration from the classic short story and video game I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, The Amazing Digital Circus follows a selection of once human characters who find themselves trapped inside an endless carnival landscape after trying out an ancient virtual reality game. These six prisoners must abide by the whims of Caine, an artificial intelligence taking the form of a ringleader determined to keep them confined to his whimsical purgatory.
Pomni is the latest victim, a young woman who is thrown into this hellscape and assigned a form resembling your everyday circus jester. She is perplexed at first, convinced she is just dreaming as an oddball cast of characters walk her through the twisted machinations of her new home. Again and again, she is told there is no leaving and, by daring to experiment with this game, she is stranded in a nebulous universe where her only objective is to maintain her sanity and avoid falling further into the void. The visuals are colourful, fun, and brimming with humour, but the pilot is quick to subvert that with dark humour and a bleak central mystery designed to keep us asking questions.
To celebrate Pomni’s arrival, the ringleader unleashes a swarm of weird creatures known as Gloinks into the world, who upon touching you will cause your digital form to corrupt and turn you into twisted monsters much like them. There’s a constant allusion to how trying to find a way out of the digital circus will inevitably lead you into a void of neverending darkness, one where all your hopes and dreams are drained away until all that remains is solitude. How this comes to pass and precisely how long this purgatory has existed is never revealed, but it looks like most of the ensemble cast has been here for a while.
There’s Jax, a purple rabbit who loves to play tricks on his fellow prisoners. Gangle, a living ribbon who swaps between sad and happy masks to express their emotions. My favourite is Ragatha, an old-fashioned doll who tries her very best to maintain a positive attitude despite having no means of escape back to her normal life. We don’t know where any of these folks came from, but the show’s subversive atmosphere and mature themes certainly open up a lot of doors to explore their collective trauma and how each of them cope with a hilariously dire set of circumstances.
Pomni tries her best to escape in the pilot’s later scenes, falling into a panic attack as she rushes through the same office over and over again before she comes to an endless void that seems to feed on her now damaged mind. There is a daring juxtaposition to everything The Amazing Digital Circus does, and it’s only going to lean into that more and more going forward.
The visuals are colourful, fun, and brimming with humour, but the pilot is quick to subvert that with dark humour and a bleak central mystery designed to keep us asking questions.
It’s likely not going to get as dark as its inspiration, that subjects its characters to mutilation, rape, death, and fates so morbid I struggle to recall them. Digital Circus could lean into this abstract horror, however, exploring colourful existentialism with characters that are far more than the playful appearances their master has thrust upon them. It has the animation talent behind it to go to some extraordinary places, far beyond the circus aesthetic and into places that right now I can’t even imagine. On the surface, it looks like an expressive platformer on the Nintendo GameCube that nobody played, ripe with playful facial expressions and cutesy character dynamics that fans and crew members are already digging into online.
The Amazing Digital Circus is a big deal, and will continue to be one in the months and years to come as the concept picks up steam and becomes a fully-fledged show that millions seem to already be on board. Much like how Hazbin Hotel was picked up by A24 and Amazon for a two-season run, I wouldn’t be surprised if Glitch Productions soon took over the world.